What Is The Adarna Bird?

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Adarna Bird or Ibong Adarna

Have you ever heard of the Adarna Bird?

Well, for those that haven't, don't worry, neither had I. As a lifelong birdwatcher and ornithologist I was a little surprised at that, but when I discovered that the Adarna Bird is a mythical creature from an epic piece of Philippine literature it became obvious why I had not come across it in any bird book.

As befits a mythical bird, the Adarna Bird is described as being fantastically beautiful and possessing a fabulous and varied song which has magical qualities. To me all birds have magical qualities but here in this lens you can find out exactly what supernatural powers the Adarna Bird has, get an idea of the story and take a look at Adarna Bird material around the web.

If you prefer to look at real birds as opposed to mythical birds then maybe this lens will satisfy you: 10 Bird Video Clips You Must See.

The Adarna Bird; Some Magical Facts 

The legend of the mythical Adarna Bird tells that it is a very beautiful bird with a very long tail. It has metallic colours which change to a more beautiful shade after the bird defecates!

"Considering how often birds defecate, the Adana bird must be like flashing Christmas lights. Birds have to frequently defecate in order to keep their body weight low for flight."

The legend of the Adarna Bird also says that it has seven fantastic songs that can make anyone fall asleep and cure all ills.

"Many real birds have a variety of calls which can declare territories, warn of danger, contact others, be a sign of affection etc. basically birds have language. Perhaps the bird with the most fabulous voice in real life is the Lyrebird".

Unfortunately, the Adarna Bird possesses a harmful magical power - its droppings can turn a human into stone!.

"As if getting covered in bird poop isn't bad enough."

Adarna Bird Books 

Ibong Adarna - Philippine Book

Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 11/07/2009) Buy Now

Ibong Adarna Comic (Tagalog) (Alamat Ng Pilipino Series 2)

Amazon Price: (as of 11/07/2009) Buy Now

Adarna Bird / Ibong Adarna Story 

The Adarna Bird is an epic piece of Filipino literature.

The Story in Short
It tells the story of three princes who are sent by their father, who is the king, to catch the Adarna Bird so that the king can hear the bird's magical song and be cured of his illnesses. The youngest prince, Don Juan, was successful in capturing the Adarna Bird. However, on their way back to the palace, the three princes encounter many further adventures and mysterious incidents. Of course, there is romance in the story with a marriage to a beautiful princess.

A longer and more detailed synopsis of Ibong Adarna can be read at the website of Tanghalang Slu: Center for the Culture and the Arts.

Ibong Adarna 

The full story in Tagalog, the native language of The Philippines.

Adarna Bird/Ibong Adarna Trailer 

As one would expect from a well-known piece of epic literature, there are many dramatisations of the Adarna Bird story. This is a trailer for an animated version of the story of the mythical Adarna Bird from The Philippines.

Ibong Adarna Trailer

When asked to develop the first full length animated feature film in the Philippines, Gigi and Tony Carlson collaborated with an extensive Manila based creative team to create this promotional trailer based on the screenplay adaptation of the popular Philippine classic.creative team to create this promotional trailer based on the screenplay adaptation of teh popular Philippine classic.

Runtime: 3:34
34350 views
10 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

Adarna Bird Art 

Whilst doing reseach for this lens, this is by far the most impressive artwork featuring an artists impression of an Adarna Bird.


Ibong Adarna by ~huMAC on deviantART

Prints of this artwork are available for just $12.95, just click on the link below the Adarna Bird artwork to take a look.

The Habitat of the Adarna Bird 

The Adarna Bird could, apparently, only be found on the slopes of Mount Tabor. I cannot find any reference to a Mount Tabor in The Philippines, only one in Israel: Mount Tabor, Israel.

The Adana Bird seems to be very particular in its habits, only being found in the Piedras Platas (silver stones) tree in the evening where it sings it mythical songs and poops on people's heads! During the daytime the Adarna Bird disappears to some unkown part of the forest - perhaps it migrates to Israel?

With these peculiar habits it is no wonder that the Adarna Bird is a mythical one, with this sort of ecology it would be doomed to join the list of extinct birds.

Adarna Bird Popsicle Stick Puppets 

A cute version of the Adarna Bird story by schoolchildren using puppets made out of popsicle sticks - nice idea. Some more uses for old popsicle sticks can be found here: How to Reuse Popsicle Sticks

IBONG ADARNA!! by the 1st year bwhs girls!!!

This is in tagalog...so for all the english people out there, it's best not to watch this since you might not understand the language! :D

Runtime: 7:49
314 views
0 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

Adarna Bird T-shirt on Design By Humans 


Limited edition T-shirt with original Adarna Bird design: Adarna Bird T-shirt at Design By Humans

Adarna Bird Trading/Trump Cards Game 

The Adarna Bird has its own Pantik trading/trump card game: Adarna Bird Trading Card. I used to have similar games to this when I was a boy; my favourite was the top trumps cowboys!

Another Piece of Adarna Bird Artwork 

Was The Adarna Bird News To You? 

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Ibong Adarna Links 

Ibong Adarna / Adarna: The Mythical Bird (1997)
Discussing the Cartoon of Ibong Adarna.
A different Adarna
Students extrapolate the Adarna Bird story.
Ibong Adarna - English Version
A version of the story in English.
Songs from ADARNA The Mythical Bird
A list of songs from the 1997 cartoon.
Adarna Bird Art
A piece of Adarna Bird themed artwork.
More Adarna Bird Art
Another painting of the Adarna Bird.
Even More Adarna Bird Art
Another Adarna bird graphic.

Thanks for Visiting 

Did you know what the Adarna Bird was before reading? Did you find what you were looking for here? Please leave a comment or question.

arncyn wrote...

Yes I have! I'm Filipino and the Adarna bird is something we were all taught about as kids in school. Thank you for introducing this magical bird to the rest of the world. Great lens, beautifully presented. 5* (:

ReplyPosted November 05, 2009

Lensmaster

lovely wrote

oh yes i have heard about that

Reply Posted September 11, 2009

Lensmaster

eLviE jOy184 wrote

yes,i already heard about that one..

Reply Posted August 10, 2009

aj2008 wrote...

No I had never heard of the Adarna Bird until now. Nicely laid out lens and well illustrated. SquidAngel Blessings for you.

ReplyPosted August 01, 2009

StarManiacs1 wrote...

Hi Its great to learn about somthing new, I read your message about ratings and am having the same problem, perhaps you could pop by my lenses some time...starmaniacs 1. Love the colur and detail in the lens.

ReplyPosted July 31, 2009

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About The Lens Author 

Lensmaster nickupton, aka nick upton, has been a member since June 23 2007, has rated 144 lenses, favorited 71, and has created 63 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "The Sneetches by Dr Seuss". See all my lenses

by nickupton







Having been a birdologist since the age of seven I am something of an ornithological recluse. However, I managed to gain adulthood, if onl... (more)

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